Hippos, Wagons, and Other Christmas Ghosts
by Jessa4865
Summary: Elliot and Olivia on a stakeout right before Christmas. EO. Complete
1. Chapter 1

Hippos, Wagons, and Other Christmas Ghosts  
Jezyk  
Spoilers: Through Paternity, just in case  
Disclaimer: Not it. Clearly. Or my life would be so much easier, you know, since I'd be gainfully employed and all.  
AN: This is a silly Christmas piece. Because I'm not currently inspired to write a silly Labor Day piece.

Chapter One

_December 23__rd  
__4:56 PM_

Four unhappy detectives squared off in the squad room. Had any of them thought much about it, they would have turned as a unit and glared at their captain, who'd been the one to leave them in their unhappy predicament.

It had barely been ten minutes since the captain had emerged to ruin their night. Actually, the next two nights, because it was December 23rd and his announcement would certainly impact the 24th as well. Ronald Chambers had made parole, somehow miraculously being released just in time for his favorite holiday. Three of the unhappy detectives were well aware of Chambers' history, having spent every few Christmases tortured by him. The fourth detective was a quick learner and already hated the man he hadn't heard of fifteen minutes prior.

Richard Chambers was a pedophile. And not a particularly bright one. He got locked up about every two years, somehow making parole just in time for Christmas every time. He wasn't a run of the mill pedophile. He was quite possibly one of the most spectacularly stupid ones the unit had ever met. The dumbass chose the same freaking corner from which to harass children every time he got out of jail.

And the dumbass always thought the Santa suit would fool the intrepid detectives.

So the detectives stared at each other, none of them wanting to fold and volunteer for Christmas Eve duty, even though there was a chance, if Chambers was caught that first night, no one would be working the twenty-fourth. Each of them had their own reasons why they felt they should be exempt from having to work Christmas Eve, but they all had the sense to recognize it would only start trouble if they gave their thoughts voice.

Finally, Olivia broke the silence. "Let's flip a coin. Winner gets tonight." She didn't bother looking to her partner; she knew he'd agree since that was how they settled most of their disagreements. Fin would also agree, because he tended to agree with her most of the time. Her eyes fell on Lake, whose opinions on anything were still too new for her to divine. He shrugged noncommittally.

Elliot fished in his pocket for a quarter. Fin beat him to it, handing the coin to Olivia. "You toss, we call."

Nodding, Olivia moved to toss the coin, sending it in a high, tight arc. Lake called heads; Fin called tails. Elliot snatched the coin out of the air before the other pair could claim victory either way.

Fin glared at Lake. "What are you trying to do?"

Lake glared back. "Why do you get to call it?"

Elliot offered the quarter to Lake. "You guys toss it; we'll call it."

Snickering, Olivia made her own suggestion. "And you can hold hands while you toss it."

"Like you two can agree on anything." Fin glared and folded his arms, allowing Lake to throw the quarter.

"Heads."

Fin and Lake were so shocked to hear Olivia and Elliot's voices in complete unison that neither of them moved to check the results.

Eventually, Elliot moved to find the coin, grinning when he announced their victory. "Heads. We'll take tonight."

Fin sat down at his desk in a huff while Lake verified that the quarter was heads up. Olivia rolled her eyes as she put on her coat. Elliot did the same before handing the quarter back to Fin. Lake sat down at his desk, muttering something under his breath.

Olivia smiled at them both. "Night, boys." She didn't want to be stuck waiting on a child molester on any night, let alone Christmas Eve. Not that she would have really minded spending the evening with Elliot normally, but having to work Christmas Eve would likely set him crazy since he'd be losing a rare evening with all of his kids. Besides, it was the first Christmas Eve she'd ever had plans.

_December 23__rd  
__5:35 PM_

Olivia watched with a smile as Elliot tried to juggle two cups of hot chocolate, a bag from the deli, and the newspaper. She'd told him not to bother with the paper since the sun had long since set; Elliot had insisted that they'd kill each other without something to distract them. Not wanting to admit that he was right, she'd simply refused to respond. He was right, of course, because without anything to do, they would revert to their favorite pastime of picking at each other until they weren't speaking.

"Thanks." She was grateful that he'd volunteered for the food run while she kept an eye out for Chambers. There were a million people out, still searching for the perfect gift, and the huge crowds always left her feeling slightly claustrophobic.

He grinned as he handed over her hot chocolate. "I got you extra whipped cream, but it probably melted."

They ate in comfortable silence, each keeping their eyes trained for the evil Santa. When they finished, Elliot attempted to read the paper, leaning and twisting in odd positions to catch what light was offered by the street lamp half a block away.

Eventually, he crumpled the front page and tossed it into the backseat. "Damn it!"

Olivia looked at him with a smirk, her mouth opening to say 'I told you so.'

"Don't say it." He glared at her. "Just don't."

Disappointed, she turned her eyes back to the window. "Looks like it's going to rain."

Elliot's eyes turned from her face to search out evidence in the sky. "God, I hope not." Because they were trapped in the car all night and they wouldn't be able to run the defroster without alerting Chambers that they were sitting there in the car which would mean they'd have to sit there with the windows down and they'd get soaked and it was too damn cold for that.

"How many times does this guy have to get popped before they realize he's never going to be rehabilitated?"

"Don't start bitching at me, Elliot. I have other things to do myself." She sipped at her hot chocolate slowly, trying to avoid the inevitable need for a bathroom. Even without the heat, it was still nice and cozy in the car and she had no desire to set foot outside in the cold.

"Do you have five kids who need their presents wrapped?"

She contemplated dumping what was left of her drink in his lap, if only to share the feeling of being in the car with a wet blanket. "First of all, one of them is hardly old enough to know the difference. Secondly, two of the others are grown and would certainly understand if their presents aren't wrapped because you have a job in order to buy them presents in the first place. And third, I don't think the fifteen-year-olds will care if their iTunes gift cards are wrapped."

Elliot was quiet for a moment, ostensibly chastised by her tirade. But then a smile curved his lips. "I wasn't going to wrap the iTunes gift cards. I was going to wrap the iPods."

Smiling, Olivia picked at the fries on the seat between them that were rapidly getting cold and soggy. "Since they're the last two teenagers left on Earth without iPods, I'm not sure they'll really care if they're wrapped either."

Elliot picked up one of the fries and threw it at her. "I'm wrapping my kids' presents. Because no matter what you say, they'll always be my babies and they will always have wrapped presents under the tree on Christmas morning as long as I'm alive."

Tossing a few fries back at him, she shrugged. "Just so long as you fully grasp the futility of wrapping gifts that will be unwrapped in a matter of minutes."

"Heads up, here comes Santa."

Immediately the two detectives forgot their discussion as they focused on work. The silence was tense and thick. They weren't about to allow Chambers to hurt another kid, so they would settle for arresting him on a parole violation of wearing a Santa suit, a condition with which few other parolees were saddled. After a few minutes of careful watching, they determined it wasn't the Santa they were looking for. They sat back and relaxed, waiting for the next candidate.

_December 23__rd  
__7:04 PM_

Olivia's eyes fell on the shadowed floor of the car. Both cups of hot chocolate were long gone, empty cups tossed on the floor. The bag from the deli was there as well as the wrappings from their sandwiches. Boredom told her to break open the bag of potato chips on the dashboard; experience told her they'd look a lot better in a few hours when the hysteria that accompanied stake-outs set in. She shifted around, trying to locate a store that wasn't too crowded for when she decided she couldn't hold it any longer.

Elliot had been quiet for a long time, trying to keep his unhappiness to himself. He was mentally running through the list of gifts he had planned on picking up on his way home until his way home had been detoured to include a Santa watch. He'd have to duck out of work at lunch time the next day because he knew from years past that all the stores would be closed by the time he was headed home on Christmas Eve. He thought about calling Kathy, asking her if she could do it. The twins could watch the baby, sparing Kathy the trouble of taking him along. But he didn't reach for his phone. She would undoubtedly notice shortly that he wasn't just running late. And he didn't want to force Olivia listen to their attempts to divvy up all the work that still needed to be done to pull Christmas off for their family.

The chirp of his phone tore through the quiet and Elliot cursed softly. It was too cold to get out of the car and have the conversation outside; besides that would probably make Olivia paranoid that he was keeping something from her. He sighed and picked it up, silencing the cheerful sound.

"Yeah, Kath."

Olivia leaned closer to the door, as though giving him a few more inches would approximate the privacy he obviously wanted, and tried to tune out his voice. She knew he didn't want to make her feel bad, but she didn't care for once. Because she had a brother, a fact that he tended to forget, and her brother had a family of sorts. It didn't have to be a house in the suburbs, 2.5 kids and a dog. It was something and it was hers. Christmas didn't suck anymore.

"Probably a while. If he's not here by midnight, he's not coming tonight." He checked his watch for the hundredth time, not sure if he wanted time to speed up or slow down. He had a million things to do, but considering that he'd be scurrying out of the office as quickly as he could the next evening, the few hours in the car were the last he'd see of Olivia until after Christmas.

For the millionth time since he'd met her, he sincerely wished she'd feel comfortable enough to join them on Christmas Eve. Not that he expected she'd sit through the chortling of off-key carols that no one knew the words to, but she'd been invited to have dinner every year and had never agreed.

He closed the phone, making up an invitation that his wife hadn't bothered to extend again. "You're welcome for dinner tomorrow if you want, although you might get roped into wrapping gifts afterwards."

She smiled at him, her eyes seeming to sparkle in the darkness. "I have plans."

He shook his head and tried to wrap his head around it. He hadn't realized she was seeing anyone, certainly not someone important enough to spend Christmas Eve with. He nodded. "You got a boyfriend you're not telling me about?"

"No, I have a brother."

Elliot squeezed his eyes closed and berated himself for forgetting. He'd already told himself a hundred times that pretending Simon didn't exist wouldn't actually result in Simon's nonexistence. It would likely only upset his partner. But he couldn't help it. He didn't like Simon. And as with all people he didn't like and couldn't beat up, he ignored him as best he could.

"Simon cooks?" Nothing about the man had suggested he could cook. Then again, nothing about him suggested the education required for a registered pharmacist either.

"No, apparently that's genetic." She glanced at him for a moment, trying to size up his sudden tension. She didn't know if he was jealous that she had somewhere to go or that she had another man in her life or if maybe he just didn't like Simon. It wasn't the first time she'd suspected the latter, but it wasn't something they talked about. It wasn't going to end well if they did. "But Lucy cooks."

Elliot found himself wondering if she'd found a sister too. "Lucy?"

"Simon's girlfriend. She's cooking dinner and I promised I'd help Kyle bake cookies for Santa."

"Kyle is your nephew?" He suddenly hated himself for not knowing everything there was to know about Simon and his family. Because Olivia not only knew the names and ages and birthdates and favorite colors of his kids, but she regularly reminded him of both his anniversary and Kathy's birthday as well. He realized that she did it as a friend, regardless of her personal feelings for any of them. As her partner, he should at least be able to keep track of her family too, even if it was a recent development.

"He's Lucy's kid, but Simon bought her a ring for Christmas, so he'll be my nephew soon." She smiled at her words. A nephew. She had a nephew. That was even better than having a sister-in-law.

"Step-nephew, right, if Simon adopts him." He wanted to kick himself as soon as the words left his mouth. He wasn't begrudging her a family. He didn't know what he was doing. "Kids make Christmas. You'll love it."

His words were ignored as Olivia gazed out the window. The pair lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

_December 23__rd  
__8:53 PM_

"God damn it!"

Olivia's shout was so unexpected that Elliot jumped in his seat. "What? What's wrong?"

"One of these cups wasn't empty. I got hot chocolate on my pants." She folded one of her long legs over the other as she licked a napkin and started dabbing at the spot.

"They're black."

She glared at him. "They're new."

"They're black, no one will ever see it."

"I'm not going to wear stained pants."

Elliot rolled his eyes. With the way she went through clothes he seriously doubted she'd remember in the morning. "Well, you'll be able to buy a new pair with the overtime for tonight."

Huffing and glowering at her pants, she threw the napkin on the floor. "Unfortunately, I need the overtime to pay my rent."

Elliot grinned, holding back a laugh. "Been to Saks again?"

She laughed, feeling no need to tell him that her clothes more often tended to be knock-offs than the high end merchandise. "Actually, I went a little overboard buying Kyle presents."

She'd more than lost control buying gifts for Kyle. Even Lucy and Simon were going to make out like they'd won the lottery. She just hadn't been able to help the excitement that overtook her when she told the sales clerk in the toy department that she was looking for gifts for her nephew. The same thing had happened when she started looking for Lucy's present – stretching the truth to tell everyone she could that it was for her sister-in-law as though they were already married. God help her when she went looking for a dress for her brother's wedding. She might lobby to have it declared a national holiday.

Shaking his head, Elliot rolled his eyes. "You blew your rent money buying gifts for a kid you barely know?"

"Hey, he's my nephew." She couldn't blame Elliot for his surprise. She never would have expected that she'd do something that stupid herself.

"Almost." His eyes moved back to the window and his lips pressed into a thin line.

The teasing no longer felt good-natured and Olivia felt compelled to explain herself, something she hated having to do, especially with her partner. "You know, you have five kids so you've gotten to go shopping and buy gifts and wrap up presents in green paper with little red Santas on it. I don't have any kids. I've never had anyone to buy presents for. So I was little irresponsible. Sue me." She folded her arms over her chest and glared out the window, hoping Chambers would appear so she'd have a legitimate reason to let out her frustration.

But then his hand was on her shoulder, rubbing gently. "I didn't mean it like that." He waited for her eyes to meet his before he smiled. "Next time you feel like blowing some serious cash, you're more than welcome to adopt one of mine. I can list ten things each of them wants that I don't have the money to buy."

The feeling of his touch was too much, leaving her feel unbalanced and confused. Her eyes immediately darted involuntarily to his hand, staring at it. He was planning a huge Christmas, his first one home with his family in two years; he certainly hadn't meant for her to misinterpret his attempt to soothe her hurt feelings. But when she looked up, his eyes were locked on hers, dark and heavy and full of something she didn't want to name. Deciding it was all in her head, looked away. She shook him off by shrugging her shoulders and tried to make light of her obvious discomfort. "Next thing you're going to tell me there's mistletoe in here."

His hand retreated, snagging the bag of chips from the seat between them and noisily tearing open the bag. "Wish I'd thought of it."

She couldn't swear she'd heard him right over the crunching sound of the bag, so she didn't respond. She couldn't be sure it wasn't wishful thinking, so she didn't challenge it. Her eyes turned back to their search, wondering if things were ever going to be different. Or if finally spending a holiday with something resembling a family was the closest she was ever going to get to being happy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_December 23__rd_

_9:15 PM_

"Who had the brilliant idea of leaving stores open until midnight anyway? Why can't they close at a normal hour?"

Olivia watched as Elliot tossed the bag of chips back on the dash, paying no mind to the ones that scattered. "I think it was to cater to people like you who invariably need to go shopping at eleven because they were working all day."

He shifted in his seat and scowled, reminding Olivia very much of a little boy who was overdue for his nap. "Then they should plan ahead."

"So it's safe to say that you're all done your shopping and all that's left is wrapping presents?" She knew she had him. She didn't even bother to look at him.

He sighed, as much an admission as he felt like making, gesturing out the window at a family walking by. "Look at them. Those kids are two, maybe three. It's long past bedtime and their irresponsible parents are dragging them out to stores in the cold. It's ridiculous."

She looked, as expected, seeing only a sweet little girl and her younger brother, staring wide-eyed and slack jawed at the animated snowman in a store window. "Like they were going to be sleeping for the next two nights anyway. At least they're all together and they're having fun."

"Having fun out waiting for a pedophile."

"We're here to protect them, El. We'll get Chambers and then the kids can be mesmerized by the thought of magical elves and flying sleighs and we can sleep at night."

He turned to look at her, his eyes softer when they found hers. "Or we can lie awake thinking about the ones we didn't catch."

Olivia sighed too, giving up. "There's always that." Reaching for the door handle, she shrugged. "I'm taking a walk. You want anything?"

"Coffee. Thanks"

Her trip killed two birds with one stone. She took care of the pressing issue of needing a restroom and she got away from her partner for a few minutes. It was infinitely preferable to strangling him because she imagined at some point in the future she would probably miss him. Not that it would be in the near future.

_December 23__rd_

_9:37 PM_

"I thought you were skipping out on me." Elliot's mood seemed a little better as he smiled at her.

She handed over the coffee she'd brought him, some peppermint-mocha-sugar-infused something or other topped with half a can of whipped cream and crushed pieces of candy canes. She laughed when he looked at it.

"Didn't I ask for coffee?" He was grinning as he picked at the bits of candy cane with his fingers.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you asked for a diabetic coma in a cup." She blew on her hot chocolate, which was half filled, at her request, with whipped cream rather than simply topped with it. "I thought it looked good."

"Here."

And quite unexpectedly, Olivia found herself staring at Elliot's finger, coated with a melting glob of whipped cream and candy cane pieces, hovering in front of her mouth. She was so tempted. Her heart stopped in her chest; she held her breath. He'd been such a shit all evening and there he was, doing something that could quite possibly change everything.

As though telling her he wished he'd brought mistletoe wasn't changing something.

As though that god-damned hug that somehow made all her previous fantasies seem tame hadn't changed something.

And that quickly, she was back to wanting to slap him. Because he was clearly putting the moves on her. Moves that the sexually repressed television producers of the fifties would have approved of. Yeah, he was making the silly sort of moves a third grader would make and expected her to suck on his finger. Right. Sure. Like she was going to put herself out there like that.

Maybe after he left his wife.

She reached out, swiping the offering off his finger with her own. She wasn't about to get into a relationship where the only payoff would be whenever he felt like it. Well, she wasn't going to get any more involved in a relationship where the only payoff would be whenever he felt like it. She saw no need to tell him her world revolved around those special unspoken moments and those touches she could no longer pretend were chaste.

_December 23__rd_

_10:28 PM_

"The stores close at midnight, right?" Olivia had never needed the late hours of the stores, so she wasn't even positive her idea was accurate. But she was beginning to share the desperation Elliot had felt earlier.

The sugar had done a lot to improve Elliot's mood. "Yeah. Did you think of something else you need to buy?"

Her head fell back against the headrest. "No, I'm just tired." The shoppers hadn't thinned out any and she found herself wondering what all that blather on the news about the bad economy was about. Clearly everyone was still out shopping long after they should have been at home, watching Christmas movies and decorating or whatever it was normal people did two days before Christmas.

"Take a nap. I'll wake you if Chambers shows up." The odds were slim that he was going to show that night anyway – although the plethora of shoppers remained, those carrying children along with their bags were decidedly fewer.

"I'm all right." She wasn't so tired that she would risk falling asleep next to the man of whom she dreamed most nights. She'd have to be a hell of a lot more exhausted to nap next to him, knowing that she would probably wind up snuggling up to him and telling him something regarding her feelings that she wasn't necessarily ready to accept herself.

"If you'd had coffee instead of hot cocoa, you'd be wide awake right now." He was only teasing that time; she could hear the smile in his voice.

Slowly her head turned toward him, her tired brain conjuring up the idea of what it would be like to be in the car with him after a late dinner or a concert, drifting off to sleep while he drove them home. She could imagine how comfortable she would be, knowing he'd keep her safe. She could almost feel the way he'd put his arm around her to guide her into their home and put her to bed. For a moment, the whole thing seemed so real that she thought she felt the weight of his hand resting on hers.

She jumped to sit upright, adrenaline chasing the idea of sleep from her mind. She'd never had such a thought before. Not of Elliot. Not of any man. She'd never once imagined being so comfortable with someone that she would live with them.

Feeling her cheeks burning, she was thankful for the darkness. It would keep her secret. He couldn't see the blush and therefore wouldn't ask her about it.

She swallowed hard and forced a smile. "Just wait until the sugar rush wears off from the candy canes. You'll be snoring loud enough to scare all the pedophiles right out of Manhattan."

_December 23__rd_

_10:55 PM_

Elliot was falling asleep. She could tell because he hadn't said a word in a half hour and his head kept slipping back at an awkward angle, which would cause him to jerk awake and look around in a perfectly adorable, paranoid fashion. Christmas plans or not, she wouldn't have minded so much if they'd lost the toss, not really, because she would have spent her Christmas Eve with Elliot, who was as much her family as Simon ever would be. She suspected that was why Elliot continued to issue invitations to her, invitations she knew hadn't come from Kathy, invitations they both knew she would never accept. She had no desire to be a third, or eighth, wheel. But it was different when it was just the two of them.

Then they were a family. Their own complete, solid, loving family. A family with a bond so tight, yet so tenuous, that no one, including them, could quite understand it.

Elliot cleared his throat, pretending he hadn't fallen asleep yet again and reached for the radio. "Do you mind? We could listen to carols or something."

She shook her head. "Please don't." She didn't want anything interrupting the blissful, comfortable environment surrounding them.

"Why not?"

"Christmas carols make me want to kill myself. They're so depressing."

He stared at her, trying to determine if she was saying it to be contrary or because she believed it. "Ok, that Judy Garland one makes everyone want to kill themselves, but all of them?"

She nodded. "All of them."

"Even Rudolph?"

"All of them." She grinned. "Except Mele Kalikimaka. That one makes me think of myself laying out in a bikini on a nice warm beach in Maui."

"I wouldn't mind seeing that myself."

Her eyes darted toward him, shocked that even in his sleepy state he would make such a slip.

He looked down, embarrassed by his words. "Unfortunately, I don't think anyone sings that one anymore."

She stifled a giggle at the idea that Elliot's sleep would quite possibly be tortured by images of her in a bikini and corrected him. "Jimmy Buffett does."

Thankful that she was dropping something she could have taunted him with for years, he chuckled. "You would know that."

"Someone has to keep track of these things."

"So why do carols depress you?" His mind kept drawing up memories of his kids screeching out made up words to happy songs that made him laugh.

She shrugged. "I don't know. They're just sad."

"How is Frosty the Snowman sad?" He grinned, thinking he had her.

"He melted."

"No, he didn't. He took a train to the North Pole and lived happily ever after."

Refusing the give him the point, she turned toward him and folded her arms over her chest. "Maybe the animated one did, but the real snowman, the one that probably inspired the tale, the one that didn't come to life and dance, melted and someone had to pick up the soggy scarf and look at the sticks that used to be his arms and stand in the mud resulting from what was left of Frosty's guts, so tell me how the hell more people don't kill themselves over Frosty."

"Gee, Liv, I don't know. Maybe because they don't let you narrate cartoons."

"Thanks to you, I have that damn song stuck in my head." She was trying to be in a bad mood, but something about Elliot's grin deflated the misery and left her feeling tingly inside.

"Frosty? We could probably find that one on the radio, you know, if you let me turn it on." He reached for the knob.

She smacked his hand away. "No, Mele Kalikimaka. And, like you already stated, no one sings that anymore."

"Maybe someone will play the Jimmy Buffett version."

"You turn that radio on and I'm going to smack you."

Playing at being offended, Elliot frowned at her. "You wouldn't dare."

"Why wouldn't I?" She was trying to play mad back, but she kept smiling. "You'd never hit me back. I could pummel you into next week."

"Exactly. You wouldn't hit a defenseless man." He was grinning too.

God, the man was impossible to resist. "Oh, yeah? Wanna bet?"

"You sound like the twins."

Just because he compared her to his kids, to any teenager at all, she had to. She lifted her hand and swung at him, not intending to hurt him in the least. He caught her wrist easily, especially so since she didn't fight him, and held her arm still. Their eyes held for a long moment, during which his hand slid from her wrist to her hand. She held her breath while his thumb ran over her palm, practically daring her to either pull away or reply in kind. She chose to sit there, staring wide-eyed at him, letting him caress her hand lightly.

The "Ho Ho Ho" that sounded just outside their car scared both of them. Elliot immediately reached for the door, ready to attack Chambers for having the audacity to interrupt their moment. But Olivia was able to calm herself down enough to see that it was just an overzealous Salvation Army collector pacing the street.

Her arm reached out, catching hold of his coat. "Relax, El. It's not him."

Disappointed, although it wasn't clear whether from the let-down or the frustration, Elliot dropped back against his seat.

_December 23__rd_

_11:37 PM_

The silence had stretched on beyond what Olivia considered tolerable. She'd had plenty of time to think, to dissect the moment, to analyze what had happened until she reached the conclusion that the thick, suffocating quiet was all his fault. Not because he'd touched her, no that could have been cleared up easily. He could have said he was sorry, offered a half-hearted, untrue apology that she could have brush off with just as much emotion and then they would have been back on solid ground. But no, he hadn't. They were trapped in the perilous uneasiness that came from the anxiety of both of them knowing he wasn't sorry for touching her. Not in the least.

Damn it.

Damn him. He'd had years to make a move on her when there was no wife and family waiting for him.

And he'd waited until Christmas fucking Eve to tease her with flirtation that seemed to be a bit more than flirtation.

Determined not to let him ruin the night that had included the magnificent feeling of his fingers brushing over her skin, she broke the silence. "So how old were you when you found out about Santa Claus?"

He turned to face her as soon as the words crossed her lips, but he took his time replying, as though he wasn't sure if she'd actually spoken. "I was six."

The idea that the strong, determined man had ever been a six-year-old who believed in Santa was hard for her to swallow, but it brought a wide smile to her face. "What happened?"

"Kelly happened."

She tried to remember, but she knew one of his sisters was a year older than him and the other was a year younger, but she wasn't sure which one was Kelly. "She's the older one?"

"Younger. Kerry is the older one."

"Your little sister told you about Santa? That's just mean." She could only imagine the torture of having three kids in two years. Of course, Elliot probably had suffered worse than his parents since he'd been sandwiched between two sisters. "Poor baby."

"It was all Kerry's fault. She put Kelly up to it." Elliot glanced at her, hoping she wasn't waiting for the whole story. Then he sighed and fixed his gaze out the window. "I wanted a train set for Christmas. My mom said we didn't have enough money for one, so I asked Santa for it instead."

She bit back a laugh at the notion of Elliot sitting on Santa's knee and asking for a train set. The only reason she was successful was because he was being open and honest and she knew laughter would stop him from trusting her again.

"I saw one at the toy store that had this great one that had steam and the whistle and a red caboose and everything. I used to just stare at the thing for hours. Kerry knew I wanted it. And she also knew that I thought the caboose was called a wagon."

She tried to swallow the giggle, but she wasn't entirely successful. Her snicker earned her a sharp glare. "I think it's cute."

"So anyway, like an ass, I went around telling everyone that I was getting a train with a red wagon for Christmas. And both of them knew mom said we couldn't afford a train set, but Kerry convinced Kelly that she would get this doll she wanted if she was nice to me and made sure I got my wagon. Apparently, some girl power thing made Kerry tell Kelly there was no Santa and let me keep on believing. So Kelly decided to test it and told mom I wanted a red wagon."

"Let me guess. There was no train set."

He shook his head. "No, just two devastated kids with the wrong Christmas presents." He shrugged. "At least the wagon proved to be a great torture device for the girls. I used to put their dolls in it and send them flying down the stairs." He started to laugh at the memory. "Had to get even with them somehow."

"I'll bet your parents loved that."

He rolled his eyes. "My parents really should have looked into birth control. I don't think they wanted any of us." He shook off the unexpected revelation quickly. "So what about you? How old were you when Christmas stopped being magical?"

"Four."

"Ouch."

Her eyes fell to her hands. "Yeah, well, it's not at amusing as yours."

"Come on." He reached out and elbowed her. "Not all your memories suck. Fess up."

"No, but the Santa one does." As much as she liked sharing secrets with Elliot, she felt too exposed. Because as much as he seemed to enjoy their time together, as forward as he was being about having feelings for her, he was still going home to share a bed with his wife in an hour.

"I told you mine. Now, you either tell me or I'm going to start singing Christmas carols."

"Oh, please, no!" She laughed despite herself, knowing that he was as tone deaf as they came. "Well, you know that Hippopotumus song?"

"The girl with the really annoying voice? Yeah, I might have heard that a couple hundred times." He rolled his eyes. "It's Maureen's favorite."

"I heard it and I thought it was just the greatest idea ever. I decided I wanted a damn hippopotamus for Christmas and I told Santa and I told my mom and I told everyone I saw. And since I firmly believed that it was a perfectly rational request-"

"You were four, after all." He grinned at her, imagining a young, innocent Olivia the same as she had done with him.

"Exactly. Seemed like a good idea." She smiled. "I kind of freaked out on Christmas Eve, thinking that I'd get trampled by it, so I told Santa, who was supposed to be all-knowing, right, that I'd be ok with a stuffed hippo since we lived in an apartment." She sighed, still easily able to remember how excited she was at the prospect of getting something she wanted so badly. It felt exactly like she imagined it would feel if someone told her Elliot would be under her Christmas tree on Christmas morning, sans wife and kids. "So Christmas morning, I see this big wrapped package and I assume it's my hippo."

"But it wasn't."

She shook her head. "It was an elephant. A big stuffed elephant. My mom went on and on about how I'd gotten just what I'd wanted from Santa."

"I suspect this story is going to end in tears."

"Oh, there were tears. Screams, shouts, squeals, and then tears. I was inconsolable." She shook her head, finding the story far more amusing than she ever had. "My mom asked what was wrong and I told her Santa was supposed to bring me a hippo." She paused, remembering the next part so clearly that she could practically hear her mother's shout in her ear. "She told me that she couldn't find a hippo and that I was a spoiled rotten brat for not being grateful that I got anything since I was such a terrible kid."

Elliot winced, hearing why she hadn't wanted to recount the story, but Olivia continued before he could say anything.

"That wasn't the worst part. I kept going on, hysterical about Santa getting it wrong because how could Santa get something wrong. She took me by the shoulder and shook me, looked me straight in the eye and told me there was no fucking Santa Claus and that she wasn't ever buying me anymore presents." She shrugged, trying to shake off the horrible feeling. "She relented by the next year. She always bought me gifts and she really tried to get the right stuff, but it never felt right."

Elliot was quiet for a long time. "That explains why you blew your rent on Kyle." She nodded, thinking that making Christmas perfect for someone would make her feel better about the whole thing. "I'm sorry. I didn't think-"

"Don't, El. I don't think anyone really looks back on giving up Santa fondly, you know? I think it's pretty much downhill after that."

Elliot nodded, starting the car. "Stores are closing. I guess Santa's not going to ruin anyone's Christmas by molesting them tonight."

"Come to think of it, that would be a worse way to find out."

The ride to her apartment was silent. When they pulled up to her building, she looked for something to say, some way to extend the peace they had between them. Elliot beat her to it, turning toward her.

"It's not all downhill after that, you know." He winked. "There's always mistletoe."

She headed into her building with a wide smile on her face, excited about Christmas for the first time since she was four. It was a good feeling.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_December 24__th  
__11:46 AM_

She saw the flag announcing new mail, but she ignored it, continuing to play Minesweeper without bothering to check whatever silly chain letter Casey had undoubtedly forwarded her. Lake was up to his nose in paperwork, none of which appeared to be current or in any way involved with their department. Fin, who was the most likely to be aware that Olivia was completely blowing off work, had made no less that 16 trips to the locker room, the vending machine, and the coffee pot in the three hours he'd been there. Elliot gave the closest impression of doing work, but Olivia was well aware that he'd been re-arranging some sort of list all morning, handwriting it each time, shredding it, and then starting over. The fact that he wasn't using his computer gave away his paranoia that someone would pick it up off the printer, which proved that it wasn't work either.

Crime didn't take a holiday, but the detectives of the Special Victims Unit might as well have.

Olivia did a quick sweep of the room between each game to make sure that no one was paying any attention, in need of assistance, or about to yell at her. Nothing had changed in the duration of her last 2-second game, so she started up a new game. She heard Elliot clear his throat, but she was doing pretty well and didn't bother to look up. A moment later, she felt Elliot kick her under the desk, but she was fairly sure she was about to beat her own record and therefore paid no attention to him.

The ball of waded up paper he chucked at her just pissed her off, so she ignored him even after she blew up her playing field. Irritated, she didn't bother looking around when she started a new game.

A pencil came flying at her, but she caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and leaned away fast enough that it sailed right past her. The sound of Elliot's feet stomping under his desk would have amused her on a regular day, simply because she loved to see how quickly he became unhinged just because she wouldn't make eye contact. But it wasn't a regular day. It was Christmas Eve and she had other places she wanted to be for once and so had no intention of looking at the man who was liable to rope her into doing something that would result in the ruination of her plans, her holiday, her career, her reputation, or any combination of the above.

When Elliot's fists slammed down on his desk in frustration, she had to fake a cough to cover the laugh that escaped.

"Olivia, I think Elliot's trying to get your attention." Lake sounded confused and Olivia was sure he looked confused, since he usually did, but she didn't look at him either. She'd moved onto Hearts, a game she didn't entirely understand.

And then there were hands on her shoulders and a face next to hers. "I know you're busy, baby, but he's going to start bawling in about two seconds and I really don't want to see that." She looked up at Fin, the only man in the world who could call her baby without getting a black eye, and smiled.

Fin went back to his mission of not sitting still for two whole minutes. Olivia finally looked at her partner, not quite knowing what to make of the glare he was shooting at Fin's retreating figure.

"What?" She hadn't meant to sound exasperated, because she wasn't, not really. She wasn't all that involved in not working.

"Read your email."

Rolling her eyes, she opened up her inbox. She had five messages – all from Elliot. One, the first one, indicated that he wanted to ask her a favor. The other four simply said "read your email" in all caps. She wanted to laugh. The man was insane. She didn't bother opening any of them. Instead she looked across the three feet of desk space that separated them. "What's up?"

He rolled his eyes. "Read your email."

She glanced at the irritating, innocuous list of emails. "Why? Is something going to jump out and scare me?"

"Read your damn mail!" Rather than glaring at her, he looked at his watch. And then, apparently to verify that it was accurate, he turned around and checked the clock on the wall.

She gave in and opened the super secret email. She couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, El, go ahead. No one will notice you're gone."

His head snapped around, checking the room for the brass or IAB or Cragen or someone with a tape recorder. "Do you have to tell everyone?"

"Does it look like anyone's listening?" She didn't need to look around to know that no one was. Elliot had only held their attention while he was going about getting her to look at him in an entirely childish manner. Once he'd stopped making a nuisance out of himself, they'd gone back to whatever they were doing.

"Yes or no?"

"Of course I'll cover for you while you go shopping, El. What are partners for?" She snickered as he panicked, grabbing a file at random from his desk and pretending to read it, feigning his preoccupation with work for anyone who were to look.

A moment later, he peeked up. "Is anyone looking?"

"No, El, because no one's done a damn thing all day." She nodded towards their boss's office. "He's had the phone receiver to his ear for two solid hours and hasn't made a single comment. How much do you want to bet he's pretending to be on the phone so no one will bother him?"

He dropped the file he'd been holding, a smile lighting his face. "I shouldn't be too long. I owe you one."

She grinned while she watched him put on his coat. "You owe me more than I can count, but I'll add one to the tab."

_December 24__th  
__12:35 PM_

Olivia tapped her foot impatiently and stared at her computer clock. She'd beaten her best time on Minesweeper twice, actually won a hand of Hearts, and wound up owing her computer several thousand dollars for Solitaire hands she'd lost before she realized how late it was. He'd been paranoid about getting in trouble. He'd said he'd be quick. She'd promised no one would notice.

Of course, that was on the condition that 'too long' wasn't, in fact, too long.

Her leg bounced up and down nervously as she surreptitiously checked both that her cell was working and her boss was still at his desk. Her phone appeared to be fine and, although he'd given up the ruse that he was on the phone, Cragen still appeared to be cemented to his chair. She wanted to not be anxious. She wanted to enjoy the time she knew Elliot wasn't trying to bug her.

But she much preferred him bugging her from a few feet away to not knowing where he was or what he was doing. Damn it, she hated that she was just as dependent on him as he was on her. They were the poster children for codependency. She made a mental note to mention it to Huang, provided Elliot was fine and had some sort of warm drink to thank her for her concern.

_December 24__th  
__12:45 PM_

She'd given up even pretending to work or play or screw around. She was staring at her phone with her bottom lip worked between her teeth, hard enough to hurt to remind her to keep her mouth shut. It just wouldn't due for her to call attention to Elliot's absence when she'd agreed to cover for him.

But her mind kept flashing to images of him, lying hurt somewhere or being held hostage or being in an accident, with no one looking for him because she hadn't told anyone he was missing.

She saw Cragen's door open out of the corner of her eye and she tried as hard as she could to erase the worry from her face.

"Where's your partner?"

She looked up slowly, carefully measuring her response so that she appeared to have been engrossed in something like work that involved deep thought. Being creative, she even threw in a glance at her watch. "I think he went to get lunch."

His eyes narrowed. Cops shopping on duty were one of his big pet peeves and he seemed to have some idea that one of his perpetually wayward detectives was doing just that. Finally he nodded. "Ok. Let me know when he gets back."

It would be too obvious for her to pick up her phone and immediately warn him to bring back food.

But it would settle her nerves to get him on the phone.

She turned to her computer instead, sending him a note to bring food or get fired. Hoping that the note would also tell him that she'd already covered for him and should therefore get back before she was caught lying, she stared at her inbox waiting for a reply. An acknowledgement of some sort that he was alive and well and taking advantage of her.

_December 24__th  
__12:52 PM_

"Is he still getting lunch?" Cragen was looking at his watch and Olivia tried her best to read him. It could have been that he honestly couldn't remember when he'd asked. Entirely possible, since Olivia couldn't honestly be sure what time he'd asked either, unless she checked her mail. It could have been that he was well aware that Elliot had not set foot in the precinct in over an hour and he was testing to see if Olivia would lie for him. That one was immediately discounted; he knew she'd lie for her partner and he'd lie for her and they'd already covered that ground a few hundred times. Or it could have been that he wasn't paying close attention and had mistaken one of the other men in the room for Elliot.

She nodded, deciding she'd stick with the lie until something else came to her. It hadn't been that long, she rationalized, he could have just lost track of time. Still, her email should have sparked a response and she glared at her inbox as though it was hiding something from her.

_December 24__th  
__1:16 PM_

"Where the hell is Stabler?"

Olivia didn't even look up when the captain came charging out of his office. She was busy trying to remember where the emergency exits were because, damn it, it was an emergency and she needed an exit. The only one that came to her, despite the fairly obvious one a few feet behind her, was the main one, the one she almost always used, the one that an angry Captain Don Cragen was blocking.

"Um-" She wasn't sure what she was going to say.

Until the most welcome sight she'd ever seen came around the corner. "He's right behind you." Elliot was flushed, a sure sign that something was wrong, but Cragen didn't take the time to notice.

"You're wife has been trying to reach you all morning. Eventually she gave up trying and started calling me."

Elliot, who was sadly empty handed which completely ruined Olivia's claim about lunch, shrugged. "My phone didn't ring." He pulled it out of his pocket, stared at the display for a moment, and then shook it. A second look at the display caused a deeper flush, one of anger, to color his face. "I dropped it this morning, but I didn't think it broke."

"Apparently, you were wrong. Call your wife." Cragen turned to go back to his office, but stopped at the last minute to look between the partners. "I notice you forgot the lunch you went out two hours ago to get."

Elliot didn't say anything, at least not verbally. His eyes darted to Olivia's, looking for some indication of what he was supposed to say. She suddenly found her nails captivating.

Cragen shook his head. "Consider it your Christmas gift. Both of you." He stormed into his office and slammed the door.

With the boss gone and her partner once again seated at his desk, Olivia wanted to run over and hug him. She was so relieved that he was ok; she didn't even care that the boss had caught them in the midst of one of their games. In lieu of hugging him, she wanted to say she was glad to see him in one, healthy, conscious piece.

Translated into something that wouldn't freak him out, her statement came out as "Where the fuck have you been?"

He took a long moment, dropping his face into his hands and then sighing. "In addition to the new phone I now have to buy, I'm also in desperate need of a new car."

She allowed the terror to cross her face for a moment. "What happened?"

"Some woman driving forty backwards in a minivan through a parking lot. Need I say more?"

She still kind of wanted to hug him, to show support as well as to convince herself that he was all right. "I tried to tell you to bring lunch back, but-" She motioned at his dead phone. "I guess it's a good thing Santa's coming tonight."

"It wouldn't have even been so bad except that she wanted to call the cops. I tried to explain that I was the cops and that I was still willing to let it go, but she saw my gun and started screaming for security." His face grew redder as he explained.

She couldn't help but laugh, knowing that it hadn't been at all funny when he was in the moment. "I knew all along you were secretly a purse snatcher." A maniacal smile lit on her lips. "But, really, El, you should know better than to walk around flashing your gun at unsuspecting women."

The red color of his face paled as his eyes met hers. It wasn't often she made a comment quite so bold. After a moment of complete panic, his eyes left hers and he dropped her statement without acknowledging it. "Don't ever tell security guards that you're a cop. They think it's an insult." He rolled his eyes. "Kathy's going to kill me. I didn't get anything done that I needed to."

Amused for some twisted reason that Kathy was going to have a bad day, forced to drag out shopping with a newborn in tow, Olivia grinned. "I'd volunteer to cover for you, but I suspect Cragen will put out an APB on you if you leave his line of sight for the rest of the day. And I doubt he's going to take my word for anything either."

He stood up to pull a phonebook off one of the filing cabinets. "You don't happen to know any good body shops, do you?"

"I've never owned a car, El."

He looked up and smiled at her quite unexpectedly. "If you decide you want to buy me a gift this year, I could really use a time machine."

Giggling, she turned to her computer and opened up a new game of Minesweeper. "And here I thought you wanted a wagon."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

_December 24__th  
__4:52 PM_

It had taken nearly eight hours, but eventually around 4:30, Olivia's fingers had gone numb from her private marathon Minesweeper tournament. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the infuriating little grid and she feared she was going to dream about it too.

And then her eyes met her partner's, who had also been reduced to doing nothing besides staring for just over twenty minutes, and she knew that she would most certainly dream of those heavenly blue eyes and that devilish smirk. She got goosebumps just seeing it directed at her.

She'd seen it before, of course, because in all their years together, she'd pretty much seen every expression the man had, except for _that_ one, the one he made when he - well, almost every one about summed it up. The playful smile and unrelenting stare usually resulted in her wanting to be playful too, usually by giving him something to stare at. She'd always imagined a strip tease would do a damn good job. The problem was that the stare and smile were never, ever directed at her. And yet they still managed to make her contemplate giving him a strip tease. The combination was just that potent.

She'd gotten them separately, but never in tandem. When used together, even Mr. Oblivious recognized that the expression was a powerful tool for controlling the most headstrong of women. He reserved the commanding recipe for particularly tough women in the interrogation room, women who were smarter than the usual techniques, women who were beyond everything besides pure sexual attraction.

Being on the receiving end of that look finally explained to Olivia exactly why so many women were suddenly very pissy when they realized that Elliot was not alone.

She shivered and wondered what he was up to.

Because he had to be up to something if he was using that stare on her.

She swallowed hard and willed her body not to respond, but damn if it wasn't far too late for that command. Not that it would have worked anyway.

_December 24__th  
__4:55 PM_

Her nails, which she'd decided during her earlier inspection were in desperate need of a manicure, drummed into the desk. Elliot was still staring at her. The smirk had abated somewhat, or perhaps the potency had worn off slightly having faced it for several minutes straight, but his eyes were still steadfast and even seemed to reflect a hint of the smile that appeared by all other rights to be fading.

She shivered and pretended not to notice.

_December 24__th  
__4:59 PM_

He was undressing her in his mind.

She was sure of it. It would have been a bad enough thing on a regular basis done by anyone else. Though, done by anyone else, she would have been so thoroughly pissed off that she might have threatened a harassment suit, a physical injury, arrest, whatever seemed most appropriate.

Rather than any of the standard options, however, the idea that it was Elliot who was doing it filled her mind with a question. Not what did he think he was doing. Not why was he doing it. Not what did he expect to happen since she would know what he was thinking. No, although those questions were there in some recessed corner being ignored totally, those were not the primary concern. Sadly, the feminist in her ran off and hid in utter embarrassment because the only thing she was particularly concerned with at that moment was whether or not Elliot was enjoying the imaginary view.

And the way he wouldn't stop looking at her, wouldn't even blink, told her that he absolutely was.

She decided not to think about it. She'd have plenty of time to think about it during the following day and a half until she would be facing him again. Until then, she'd just revel in it.

_December 24__th  
__5:00 PM_

"I'd ask what you're so damn happy about, but I really have to run." Conveniently, her happiness was contagious, because he'd started to smile back at her. Not the will-you-be-my-love-slave smile, but a regular I'm-enjoying-myself smile.

It had been a good long time since he'd seen her smile out of such genuine happiness and she knew that she looked damn good when she did, so she fixed her joyful smile on him. "Merry Christmas, El. I'll see you around."

He'd been staring at her for over a half hour, but he stopped in his tracks, his coat hanging limply from his hand while he stared a moment longer at her smile. He seemed to catch himself, furrowing his brow and blinking a few times, quite possibly realizing what he'd been doing for the past half hour for the first time. Then he looked back, not quite at her and smiled. "You too. Have fun with Simon and Lucy and Kyle."

She didn't have time to be impressed with the fact he'd managed to remember their names. She didn't have time to be glad he'd finally mentioned Simon's name without her prompting. He was there one moment; gone the next. Shaking her head slowly, she followed him, the unfamiliar idea forming in her head that she needed to get moving too or she'd be stuck in traffic on the way to her brother's.

Her brother's.

For Christmas Eve.

She was so tickled at the notion that Elliot didn't cross her mind again for a good long time.

_December 24__th  
__7:48 PM_

The people on the commercials made it look so easy. The directions on the package made it sound so easy. But when faced with actually doing it, following simple instructions in plain English appeared to be out of her reach.

And just what did _good spreading consistency_ mean anyhow?

She'd promised a five-year-old that they could make cookies. And she'd stupidly asked him what kind he wanted. Had she any experience dealing with children that hadn't been abused she might have known that showing up with slice-and-bake pre-made cookie dough would have been the way to go. But no, silly girl that she was expected Kyle to be as low maintenance as she had been at the same age. She'd mistakenly opened a can of worms. Because Kyle didn't want the simple cookies that would be ready in ten minutes which came pre-stamped with Santa faces on them.

He wanted the kind his mommy made. Because they were "the yummiest in the whole wide world." And that was logic that Olivia, as a logical, problem-solving oriented adult had trouble combating.

So she'd bought all the ingredients on the list Lucy had patiently recited over the phone and arrived at their house with the expectation that she could follow a linear sequence of steps in a chronological fashion and arrive at the result in the picture. And she might have been right, had she not been distracted in the midst of instructing Kyle on what to do by a pair of stunning blue eyes.

What was particularly stunning about them was that they weren't even there. Just thinking about that stare reduced her to spontaneous brain death. During her transient catatonic state, Kyle had taken it upon himself to mix everything on the counter together, since Olivia had made the mistake of lifting him up to sit on the counter while she blended. When she stopped blending, preoccupied with blending herself and the owner of the blue eyes, Kyle picked up where she left off.

Jarred back into consciousness by the buzzer on the oven that indicated it had pre-heated, Olivia somehow neglected to realize she'd abandoned the process in the early stages and put Kyle's handiwork in the oven to bake.

_December 24__th  
__8:13 PM_

Something was very, very wrong with the cookies. They didn't look right. They didn't smell right. And despite cooking them far longer than the directions had called for, they had yet to achieve solidity.

She also only had seventeen minutes before Kyle was due in bed, at the risk of having Santa scrap his visit. Kyle, who sat with his nose to the glass pane on the stove to watch, was rapidly growing more nervous that he would not have prepared the required cookies for Santa. Olivia, who had already accepted utter defeat, didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't going to happen. She leaned on the counter and put her face in her filthy hands, not caring one bit about the cookie ingredients she smeared on her face in the process. Her brother and sister-in-law-to-be were about to have to calm a hysterical child that was hysterical because Olivia couldn't stop daydreaming about her married and completely off-limits partner of ten years. She doubted they'd care if she had flour and cocoa all over her face when they disowned her and threw her out of their house.

The next thing she knew, Kyle was tearing out of the room.

"Santa!"

Figuring she was busted for being a failure of an aunt, she stayed right where she was and waited for someone to come yell at her.

_December 24__th  
__8:17 PM_

When no one appeared to throw her out and no disappointed kid reappeared to tell her it had been a false alarm, she figured she needed to follow up. There was a chance that her nephew of sorts was climbing his way to the roof to look for a certain red-suited man, leaving Olivia even more guilty of wrong-doing.

But she stopped in her tracks when she got to the doorway, stunned by the sight before her.

Kyle, having heard something that equated to Santa in his mind, had thrown open the front door. Lucy, who'd been busying playing Santa in the other room, had responded, but she too remained frozen in her tracks, albeit for an entirely different reason.

Kyle was standing mesmerized at the man in the doorway. Eventually his ecstatic face fell. "You're not Santa."

Elliot shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"But I heard a reindeer!"

"That was my car." Elliot squatted down to eye level with the boy. "You're Kyle, aren't you?"

Olivia was enthralled, too much so to notice the fear on Lucy's face.

Kyle nodded. "Do you work for Santa?"

Elliot smiled. "Yes, I do. And Santa wants you to know that he knows you've been a very good boy this year."

Kyle's eyes lit up and he surged forward to hug the man he didn't know.

Lucy did the same, grabbing at Kyle before he could touch Elliot. "Don't talk to strangers!" Holding Kyle in a tight hug while backing away from the door, she looked at Elliot. "Do I know you?"

Simon came running at Lucy's shout, luckily recognizing Elliot. "Lucy, it's ok." He patted her shoulder. "It's Elliot."

"I'm looking for Olivia." Elliot still hadn't noticed that she was in the doorway. "You must me Lucy. Liv told me about you and Kyle."

The man was smooth. Because, Olivia thought, just the night before, he'd been pretending that she didn't have a brother and definitely didn't know the names of his family members.

Lucy set Kyle back down, who ran back to Elliot. "Well, then, come on in."

Elliot scooped Kyle up, well versed with handling children, and offered his hand to Lucy and Simon. "Sorry about the confusion. He was just so excited about hearing the reindeer."

Simon looked skeptical. "I thought I heard a horse too. That was your car?"

Olivia loved watching him interact with her family, as loose as that definition was for her. When she thought about it, she realized she wasn't watching Elliot interact with her family. She was watching Simon, Lucy, and Kyle interact with her family. It was overwhelming, she realized, so much so that she couldn't say or do anything to let them know she was there. It was heartwarming. It was breathtaking. It was amazing. She could only stand there and smile as her nephew wrapped his short arms around Elliot and squeezed him as hard as he could.

Lucy and Elliot were making quite the fuss over what a good boy Kyle had been when Simon looked over and saw her. "There you are!" She nodded, pretending she'd been busy with the cookies.

And then Lucy, with the eye of a woman with a beating heart, winked at Olivia. "I think your present came early."

In that moment, Elliot almost got his wish of getting a time machine because Lucy's words had the power to stop time. For Olivia, at least. She had never been so embarrassed, not since her mother had stopped showing up drunk to her school functions. Families had the ability to mortify a person to death, she remembered.

She swallowed hard, knowing her cheeks were stained red. She stuttered out a few syllables because she wasn't sure how Lucy had figured out what she really wanted for Christmas or how her Christmas wish came to pass. And then she promptly remembered that she worked with Elliot and that he was probably there to drag her back to the office, leaving her to feel even dumber in front of Elliot.

"Did Fin and Lake catch Chambers?"

Elliot looked dumbfounded for a moment. "I don't have a clue."

"Then what are you doing here?" She didn't mean to be rude; her brain wasn't functional.

His cheeks started to color to match hers. Lucy stepped in, taking Kyle out of his arms. "Little man, I think it's time for bed."

"Do I have to?" Kyle looked hopefully at Elliot, as though his promise about Santa was already set in stone.

Elliot nodded. "You've been very good, but Santa can't come while you're awake."

"Ok, mister."

Lucy tickled him and laughed. "Kyle, why don't you call him Uncle Elliot?" Even Simon was blushing furiously at that point, shooing the two from the room and following close behind to put Kyle to bed.

Finally alone, Olivia discovered voluntary control over her mouth. "I swear I have no idea what that was about."

He nodded and, based on what she knew of his family, she was sure he understood. "Lizzie still calls Munch her uncle. Don't worry about it."

She came into the room fully. "So this isn't about work?"

"Santa wanted me to bring you something." He disappeared back to the porch for a moment. When he reappeared, he was holding a very large package.

They had never exchanged gifts. It just wasn't something they could do. In the beginning they hadn't known each other well enough to bother. In the end, they knew each other too well. She would easily have done a better job picking a gift for him than his wife ever had; he would have put considerably more thought into a gift for her than he ever did for his wife. A plain "Merry Christmas" was all they ever gave each other. She was completely unprepared for him to drive all the way out to Simon's house in Jersey to bring her a present. And she felt terrible that she didn't have anything for him.

"What is this?" Ever since that disaster of a Christmas with her mother, she'd been anxious and suspicious facing presents. The fact that it was from Elliot only made it worse.

He grinned, but his grin faded quickly. "Is something burning?"

_December 24__th  
__8:45 PM_

Olivia was perched on the counter exactly where Kyle had been sitting. She would have thought the coincidence strange, except that it was the only space on the counter not covered with some sort of cookie ingredient. Elliot was trying to scrape the broiled globs off the baking sheet.

The batteries from the smoke detector lay next to Olivia; the kitchen door stood open inviting in the ice cold air to replace the smoke.

She wanted to be embarrassed at her utter failure in the kitchen, except Elliot's amusement was so very real that she couldn't help but enjoy it too. Especially since Elliot was more than happy to shift into protective male mode and "save" her from the kitchen fire. Hell, he was even saving her from having to admit that she'd ruined the cookies with his offer to help once he was done cleaning up.

He looked up from his scrubbing, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up above his elbows as he worked. "How exactly did this happen?"

She pretended not to be hypnotized by the well-defined muscles working in his bare forearms. It took her a moment, having been so surprised at his presence that she'd managed to put it out of her mind. "Um – I'm not actually-" And then she remembered. Kyle had taken over with the recipe, without being able to read a word. Because she'd been busy thinking of Mr. Blue Eyes himself. She smiled despite herself. "I might have let Kyle help too much."

He rolled his eyes. "You let a four-year-old make cookies himself?"

"He's five." Realizing that her correction did nothing to further her case, she added an emphatic shrug.

Perhaps it was the holiday spirit, but Elliot seemed to accept her bullshit answer. "You probably wouldn't have done any better anyway."

"Hey!" In mock anger, she reached for something to throw at him.

The spatula, still covered with uncooked dough, flew through the air, splattering dough everywhere.

As Elliot wiped one of the globs off his chin, he sighed. "Great, now I look like you."

Olivia had thought Lucy's comment was the epitome of embarrassment. But no, Olivia had stumbled into a new depth all on her own. There she was, fantasizing about the man cleaning up the mess she'd made and flirting her ass off, having smeared flour and sugar and cocoa all over her face. She wanted to die.

Propping her elbows on her knees, she dropped her face into her hands, unconcerned that she was only exacerbating the problem. "You could have told me I was a mess," she moaned into her hands.

"You're not a mess."

She would have disputed his statement, but his hands were on her wrists, pulling her hands from her face, gently wiping them clean with a paper towel. She wasn't sure what to say.

"In fact, you might be the cutest damn thing I've ever seen." Having finished with her hands, he reached toward her face and repeated the process. His eyes softened as he worked, staring at her with something she could only describe as adoration as he touched her face.

Words were a complete loss for her. She could only stare at him with a stupid smile on her face.

AN: There will be more. It's taking longer than I planned to get to the end, but I'm working on it, I promise!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

_December 24__th  
__9:15 PM_

"I have to say I never suspected you could cook." She waited for Elliot to glare at her. Once he did, she continued. "And had I ever suspected you could, I still never would have imagined you could make cookies."

Ever protective of his masculinity, he growled at her. "I'll have you know I've never made cookies before. I do, however, know how to read."

She could have argued that she knew how to read too, but she was, once again, distracted by his eyes. At least that time they really were locked on hers. So she did what any sensible woman would do. She batted her eyelashes at him. "Why should I read when I've got you to do it for me?"

Elliot ignored her and went back to his baking. Olivia didn't mind and went back to watching him.

_December 24__th  
__9:32 PM_

"Wow. These are really good cookies." Elliot was admiring his own handiwork – taking a bite, staring at the remaining cookie while he chewed, then taking another bite.

Olivia giggled, trying to talk around the whole cookie she'd shoved in her mouth. "Uh huh." They were actually the best damn cookies she'd ever eaten, but she was afraid to tell him that. She had to keep his ego in check.

"If you keep talking with your mouth full, Santa's not going to leave you anything."

Finally finished with the delicious cookie, she smiled like the cat that ate the canary. "Except Santa already gave me my present." She watched his eyes widen, realizing he thought she was referring to Lucy's comment. Lucy's statement was entirely accurate, but that wasn't what she was talking about. She slugged him in the shoulder and then stole the cookie out of his hand. "I meant the thing in the big, wrapped box in the living room."

Her eyes were sparkling; she knew it. She felt like the whole world was sparkling, so her eyes would have to reflect that. She'd never been in such a good mood ever in her life and a big part of that was simply because the man standing next to her was standing next to her. That he was staring at her like the feeling was mutual was just icing on the cake.

Even in her glee, reality impugned the happiness. Her smile fell flat. She fixed her stare on him. "Seriously, El, what are you doing here?"

And just like that, his smile, his easy going manner, his good mood vanished. He scowled at the floor. "Do we have to do this now?"

His words were unexpected. She'd expected him to refuse to discuss it. She'd expected him to deny anything was out of the ordinary. She'd expected him to say anything else. But she didn't know what to do with him admitting there was something going on, that it was something he didn't want to talk about, and, perhaps most importantly, that it was something he acknowledged she would have some part in.

And all that added up to her realizing that it absolutely was something they needed to do right then. "Elliot, you showed up at my brother's house on Christmas Eve when you gave every indication that you were celebrating Christmas with your family." It would seem that something was very wrong, but his demeanor said he was, in fact, rather comfortable with whatever was going on.

He nodded toward the doorway and wiped his hands on a dish towel. "You want to sit down?"

She wanted to shake the truth out of him, but she forced herself to be patient and led the way to the couch. Sitting down, she held her breath and waited.

"You remember I said I dropped my phone this morning?" He waited for her to nod. "I didn't drop it. Kathy threw it at me."

A million different things popped into her head, but the main one was that she'd just thrown a spatula at him herself, so it didn't necessarily explain why Elliot was there. Except that Elliot was using it to explain why he was there. She had no idea what to say, so she only nodded.

"Things have been really bad since before the baby." He tightened his fists in his lap. "Hell, Liv, I'm still not even sure how that happened. I was out of my mind that night and I fucking ruined everything." His fists released and he reached over, snagging her hand in his before she noticed what he was doing. "I knew it was never going to work. But she asked me to try and I thought I owed her that much, you know? But it was all the same shit as before and I realized being on my own wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be and I'm sick of her using the kids to manipulate me."

"I didn't know. You seemed happy. I thought everything was fine." And she had. She'd never suspected that anything was amiss. In retrospect, she should have realized that he was oddly quiet about his family life since he'd moved back, but she'd thought he was just not talking about it with her.

"And then I realized that you weren't holding it against me. You weren't pissed off at me for misleading you or anything." His hand shifted around until his fingers could lace through hers. "I wanted to spend all my time with you, not with her."

She wasn't really good with deep, not when it wasn't some random victim where she didn't have to share the turmoil and pain. She knew he was hurting and it hurt her, but at the same time, his words sounded like that hurt might wind up having a positive impact on her life. She shrugged, loving the feel of his hand warming hers. "Well I do have a wonderfully entertaining personality and a magnificent figure."

He grinned. "Don't forget how modest you are."

"There's always that too." She shifted over slightly to allow her shoulder to touch his.

And just like that, the tension returned. "I didn't want to leave her. I didn't want to be the kind of man who left his wife and family for another woman."

His words stunned her. They terrified her. Flirting, wanting, imagining – that was one thing. Actually talking about it, possibly taking steps to resolve it, was a separate matter altogether. And then a terrifying thought occurred to her – maybe she wasn't the other woman. She could easily only be his partner, the person supporting him, his friend. It was a painful idea. She tried to reassure herself that it couldn't be the case. She'd been sure when he'd hugged her that it had been more than a friendship hug. She'd certainly never hugged any of her friends like that, not that tight, not that long. And the way he was holding her hand – that was definitely not something Cragen would approve of. That was a fact she could hold onto.

She glanced at him, spurred on by the rapt attention he was giving her. "Even if you left your wife, you wouldn't leave your children. They'll always be your kids, El, no matter what."

He nodded. "I know that."

They sat there, enjoying a quiet moment, holding hands and touching shoulders. It was still early, but Olivia knew she could have easily drifted off to sleep with her head on his shoulder.

"You still haven't exactly explained what you're doing here." Until she knew for sure, until she was positive that they were communicating correctly, there wouldn't be any sleep.

With his free hand, he motioned at the large red box with the big green bow. "When I was unloading the car tonight, Kathy came outside to help me. I was locking it up when she pointed to that and asked when I was bringing it in." He shrugged. "I told her it wasn't for her or the kids and I thought she let it go. Then about ten minutes later, she started grilling me about it, demanding to know what it was and how much it was and who it was for and why I was trying to hide it from her."

Even knowing it was inappropriate, Olivia couldn't help but smile. "So what is it?"

"How about you open it and see?"

She shook her head. "In a minute." She didn't want to interrupt his story. She didn't want the worry of his conclusion hanging over her head when she opened it. She wanted to take time to really relish the idea of receiving a gift from someone who knew her well and cared about her.

"When I told her it was for you, I actually thought she was going to kill me. She was so mad." He shook his head. "I don't get it. I really don't. You saved her life. You saved our baby's life. And she resents that I bought you a gift."

She didn't like it, but even if Elliot hadn't been there with her instead of Kathy and holding her hand, she still could understand it. "If I were her, I'd probably feel the same way, El. Women are territorial like that." She smiled at him. "Especially when they know they have a good one."

"She asked to think very carefully about how much I wanted to give you this present and about exactly how much it meant to me." He sighed, tightening his grasp on her hand. "And when I told her it meant a whole hell of a lot, she asked if I'd rather give it to you or stay married to her."

She couldn't help the gasp that escaped at his words. In her mind, after the accident, her relationship with Kathy was better than it ever had been. Apparently not.

"So I got in the car and left."

She let out the breath she was holding. "El-"

His hand dropped hers, moving instead to cup her cheek. "It's not about a Christmas present, Olivia. It's about how I feel."

Swallowing hard, she knew everything was coming down to his next words. She knew her face revealed her fear. She was sure he could even hear the way her heart was pounding. "How do you feel?"

"It's not right, Liv. It's just not right." He shook his head sadly.

She understood in that instant why people wrote sad songs about broken hearts. She understood how people could die of a broken heart. She was pretty sure she was about to.

"I can't stay married to her." His other hand came up to frame her face. "Not when I'm in love with you."

It took her brain a while to process his words. She had steeled herself against hearing that he couldn't give her the present after all, that he wasn't going to flirt with her anymore, maybe that he wouldn't even work with her in the future. And by the time she realized what he'd just said, his mouth was on hers.

Unable to respond verbally, she explained herself with her kiss. Her lips parted before he even prompted her, allowing his tongue access before he'd requested it. Locking her hands behind his head and neck, she kept him close as she chased his tongue back into his mouth. He'd left his wife for a chance with her, to give her a present, and she wanted to repay him. Her kiss was hungry, her mouth demanding. He might have started it, but she took charge, barely letting him far enough away to breathe. When her mouth slid down to his neck, his arms pulled her close. She could feel the chuckle reverberating through his body before the sound hit her ears. Her lips kept working, trying to brand his skin with her touch, trying to mark the territory as hers.

His lips moved over her face and throat, never releasing her from his hold. "I just want to make sure I'm reading you right." His words were interspersed with kisses and she found she much preferred that method of conversation. "You're ok with this? With us?"

She giggled as she shifted, positioning herself as close to his lap as she dared in her brother's house. "Yeah, we're good."

She could feel his smile against her skin as his mouth moved back up to claim hers. "Just making sure."

_December 24__th  
__10:17 PM_

"We're not interrupting anything, are we?" Simon's voice was strangled, pretty much exactly the way Olivia had always suspected a brother would sound when he walked in on his sister making out with a guy.

Lucy's laughter filled the air in response. "We are, but it's probably better that we interrupt it now instead of a few minutes from now."

Elliot was suitably embarrassed, tucking his red face down while he attempted to extract his hands out from under Olivia's shirt without drawing attention to where they'd been.

Olivia knew she should have been embarrassed herself, more mortified than she had been earlier at Lucy's words, but she wasn't. Grinning, she met Lucy's eyes and they shared a moment of camaraderie, one woman in love to another. "Sorry." She wrapped both of her arms around one of Elliot's, snuggling in beside him. "I hope Santa didn't see that."

Lucy was in front of the TV, playing with the remote. "Little man is asleep, no thanks to someone who allowed him to eat more sugar than she put in the cookies." She shot a pointed look at Liv. "Anyone up for Jimmy Stewart?"

Olivia had always hated Christmas movies as much as she hated Christmas carols. They never ceased to depress her. But somehow she knew she would feel differently with Elliot beside her. Because for once in her life, she could watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and not think that the angel wouldn't have much to show her that was worse without her in it. Things were different.

Elliot's arm moved around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "Sounds good to me. There are cookies in the kitchen."

Lucy headed for the other room to retrieve them while Simon settled onto the loveseat. "Was that the smoke detector we heard earlier?"

Olivia started to laugh so Elliot had to answer. "Never let this woman near a stove, ok? Not without warning the fire department."

Lucy came back in with the plate of cookies and set them on the coffee table. "Simon can't cook either. He managed to burn soup the other day."

Simon's face was red as he took Lucy's hand and pulled her down to sit beside him. "I'm going to get you for that. Maybe I won't give you your Christmas present."

She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "I bet that'll hurt you as much as it hurts me."

Olivia smiled at Elliot as he watched the young couple. He whispered as the movie started. "I hope it turns out better for them than it did for me."

Resting her head on his chest, she stretched her arm around his waist. "I think it turned out just fine for you."

"You're absolutely right, baby." He leaned down to drop a kiss on her head. "And the next time Fin calls you that, I'm going to have to hurt him."

_December 24__th  
__11:48 PM_

The credits were rolling on the TV, but no one moved to shut it off. Elliot gently shook Olivia awake, pointing at Simon and Lucy. They were curled up together, sound asleep. She ginned at him as she stretched. "Should we wake them?"

He shook his head. "Let them sleep."

"What about Kyle's presents? He'll wake up and there won't be anything here." She pointed the remote at the TV and silenced it.

"I've been Santa for a long time, Liv. Watch and learn." With a wide smile, he headed into the other room where Lucy and Simon had been hiding out when he arrived.

Olivia herself had never played Santa, except when she'd been shopping for Kyle, but she wasn't quite prepared for the stack of presents in the dining room. They covered the table, the floor, and had been piled in two stacks by the door. Even Elliot seemed alarmed.

"How many of these did you buy?"

Olivia looked around. Most everything was wrapped, except for a few of the larger toys that Simon and Lucy had assembled. "Honestly, I'm not sure. They were just kind of shoved in bags the last time I checked." She pointed at one of the finished ones. "I think I bought that green plastic thing. It looked like something that might amuse a kid." She pointed at another one, a video game system, complete with all the bells and whistles. "That one too. I remember that distinctly because some woman tried to claw my eyes out for it."

Elliot's eyes widened. "You do realize that's one of those things on those lists that my kids want and I can't afford, right?"

Olivia shrugged. "It seemed really popular, so I thought I should buy it."

"They've been selling out everywhere. Don't you watch the news?" He started piling up the brightly wrapped packages into stacks they could carry.

Taking a stack out of his hands, Olivia shook her head. "When do you have the time?"

"I have as much time to watch television as you have to shop." He picked up another stack and followed her to the living room.

Olivia squatted down by the tree, whispering so as not to wake the sleeping couple. "These are from Simon." She lifted up a few boxes. "They're for Lucy." She shifted them over to the side. "Hey, there's one for me!" She stared at her present, still surprised that she'd gotten one from Elliot.

Elliot knelt down beside her, lifting the presents from Simon. "It's Christmas, you know, and he knew you were coming. Why wouldn't you have a gift?"

She shrugged, a feeling that she was being stupid coming over her. "I didn't expect anything." She looked down, unexpectedly overwhelmed with emotion as tears pooled in her eyes. "I'm not used to that sort of thing."

He set the packages back on the floor and wrapped his arms around Olivia, pulling her off her feet and into his lap. "You'd better get used to it. You have people who love you, Olivia. People who want to give you things because they love you and they want you to be happy."

She nodded against his shirt, feeling overwhelmed instead by the warmth of both his embrace and his words. "I'm not used to this sort of thing either."

His arms tightened, squeezing her. "Like I said, you'd better get used to it."

Nodding, she straightened up. "We'd better set these up before someone comes creeping out to see if Santa's been here."

Elliot went back to the stack of Simon's boxes, setting them along the far side of the couch. He saw Olivia's questioning stare. "Kids have a tendency to open presents without checking the tags. It's best to move the things that aren't for them."

"Probably prevents them from being disappointed that they aren't for them, right?"

"Now you're catching on."

_December 25__th  
__12:34 PM_

"I think that's everything." Olivia stood with her hands on her hips and surveyed the room.

Elliot shook his head. "Almost." He disappeared into the kitchen, coming back a few moments later with a cookie, a plate, and a glass of milk. He set the plate and glass down, breaking the cookie into a few pieces and handing some to Olivia. "Here, help me out." He took a few pieces himself, crumbling a small piece of it over the plate. Then he drank half the glass of milk and offered the rest to Olivia.

She accepted it and smiled. "I came here to bake cookies for Santa and I forgot about them entirely."

"You would have destroyed the boy, Liv." He picked up the note Kyle had left for Santa and stuffed it in his pocket. "Do you know where they have a notebook?"

Confused, Olivia retrieved the one they kept by the phone. "What's that for?"

He grinned and sat down on the couch, patting the seat beside him. "You'll see."

She waited as commanded, leaning over his arm while he carefully printed in block letters rather than his usual illegible scrawl. "I didn't know you knew how to write legibly." She'd always just kind of guessed at the content of anything he handwrote.

"You learn it at Daddy school." He turned back to his work, leaving a note for Kyle to thank him for the cookies and to encourage him to enjoy his presents. Olivia laughed when he added a note that Rudolph had especially enjoyed his cookies. He wrapped it up with a reminder to be a good boy for next year. He signed it 'Santa' and left it tucked under the plate scattered with cookie crumbs, next to the mostly empty glass of milk.

Olivia sat back and stared. He was so sweet when he was dealing with kids. She couldn't believe the time he'd taken to prepare a note for Kyle, something the boy he didn't know would probably treasure.

"What are you smiling at?" Elliot was blushing, having noticed Olivia's stare.

"You. I like seeing you be a daddy. It's cute."

He nodded, seeming to consider her words for a long time. Then he winked. "Mention that again in a year."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Huh?"

"I just had a baby. Give me a year and then we'll talk."

Her mouth dropped open. "I didn't mean- I wasn't-" But she stopped. She knew he understood her motives. He'd taken the time to think about his answer. She'd never seriously thought about having children of her own. It wasn't that she didn't want them; she did. But she didn't want to raise them alone and, with all the cases she'd investigated, she had always doubted she would ever find a man she could trust to help her.

Elliot was throwing a wrench in all the ideas she'd ever had, in all the plans she'd tentatively made for her future.

She didn't mind one bit. Smiling so hard she could barely talk, she nodded. "Maybe I will."

AN: This story is almost finished, I swear. The next part should be the last one and it's mostly written. Really. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

_December 25__th  
__12:48 AM_

Elliot switched off the light and plugged in the tree, illuminating the room with the twinkling lights. Olivia pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and stretched it over Simon and Lucy.

He looked over the room and smiled. "I think Santa did a good job."

"Hats off to Santa." Playfully, she nudged him with her shoulder. "And Detective Stabler did his share too."

"No way, Detective Stabler wasn't here tonight." He shook his head, holding her eyes in the low light. "This looks like the work of Uncle Elliot."

She stretched up on her toes and planted a kiss on his lips. "Have I mentioned that I love Uncle Elliot?"

He tried to smile at her, but his lips turned down and she could see the emotion in his eyes. "I honestly wasn't sure what I'd get when I came here tonight." His arms reached out for her, cradling her body against his. "That's the best Christmas present ever."

"Speaking of Christmas presents, can I open mine?" Her eyes locked on the big box, knowing that it broke Elliot's rule of not taunting kids with things that weren't theirs.

"You're staying here tonight, right?"

She nodded emphatically. "And you are too, right?" Her heart ached at the thought of him going to the precinct to crash in the cold, uncomfortable crib.

"I might have been hoping for an invitation." He picked up the box. "Where are you sleeping?"

"I'll have you know that I have every intention of sleeping exactly where that box is currently located."

Elliot paused mid-step, looking between her, the box, and the couch where the box had located while Santa had been working.

She could see the wheels turning in his head and she laughed. "It's getting late, El, and you're getting slow. I said where the box is, not where it used to be." Then she snagged his hand and tugged him toward the stairs. "We have the guest room."

_December 25__th  
__12:52 AM_

She'd brought some old, baggy pj pants to wear, which had formerly belonged to a boyfriend whose name she couldn't even remember, but considering Elliot was homeless and only had one pair of pants to his name, she gave him the flannel pants, without mentioning that they hadn't started out as hers of course, and opted to sleep in her t-shirt instead. It was fairly long, enough to be decent should she bump into someone in the hallway. And she was sleeping next to someone who'd seen her in various stages of undress, mostly accidentally, over the years. Besides, she figured he looked a hell of a lot better in those old pants than either she or the previous owner had.

She sat on the edge of the bed while she waited for Elliot to brush his teeth with her toothbrush. As soon as he stepped back into the room, she tried her sexiest smile on him. "Can I open my present now?"

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes slowly taking in her attire, especially noting how the shirt covered nearly none of her legs, not when they were crossed like they were at the knee. He stared at her smile, his eyes turning dark. "You better not look at me like that unless you want to wake the whole house."

She shivered, realizing there was a very good chance his threat was real with the hungry way he was looking at her. She wouldn't have minded in the least if they consummated their relationship right then and there. Hell, she'd been willing earlier on the couch. "That's probably not going to earn us a return invitation next year, huh?"

He shrugged. "There's always the car."

She could have sworn her heart stopped. She honestly couldn't tell if he was serious.

Until he started to smile. "See? No one likes to be teased." He walked around the bed and pulled back the covers. "Go to bed and behave, or we're going to get thrown out of here at an inopportune moment."

As much as she wanted to take things to the next level, she really wouldn't enjoy being interrupted. She started to climb into the bed, but a nagging thought stopped her. "You never said if I could open my present." The box was calling to her, begging her to rip off the shiny paper.

He shook his head, offering his arms for her to snuggle into. "You can open it in the morning."

"Fine." Pouting, she climbed into the bed, leaving a mile between them.

"Be that way." Elliot pulled his arms back and rolled over to face the other direction.

_December 25__th  
__12:54 AM_

She tapped his shoulder. "El?"

"I'm trying to sleep." He sounded tired. Or annoyed. Or angry. Or like he was kidding.

She decided he was kidding. "I can't sleep."

"Why don't you try?" On second thought, he did kind of sound annoyed.

She slid closer and put her chin on his shoulder. "I'm too excited. Can I please open my present?"

"No."

"You suck." She turned over and moved back to her side of the bed.

_December 25__th  
__12:56 AM_

"El?"

He sighed loudly, indicating both that he was awake and not answering.

"Please?"

"You can open it in the morning." He turned over and smiled at her, his regular smile tauntingly sexy when pressed against a pillow beside her.

Hoping the pillow would have the same effect on her smile, she mirrored his position. "It's after midnight."

"So?" His pupils were large and his eyes seemed almost glazed over; she decided it was working.

"So it's Christmas morning."

"And?"

"And people open their presents on Christmas morning."

"Not you. You can open your present when the sun comes up."

She kicked him in the shin and turned away.

_December 25__th  
__12:58 AM_

"El?"

"No way. Not after you kicked me."

"Please?"

"Ask me again and I'll sleep on the couch."

She turned back around to glare at him and borrowed a page from Lucy's playbook. "And I bet that'll hurt you as much as it hurts me."

He smiled back. "Not really, since all I'm getting here is shit for buying you a gift in the first place."

She tried batting her eyelashes again; it had worked before. "Please?"

He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"Pretty please?"

He snickered, but shook his head again.

She shifted closer, letting her lips brush over his. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to earn my present a bit early?"

His eyes opened immediately and before she knew it, he'd rolled them over, pinned her to the bed and let his body indicate that he wasn't kidding. "There certainly is. Here or the car?"

She tried to scowl at him, but she enjoyed the feeling of his body against hers, his weight pressing her into the bed. And then an evil idea struck her. She smirked as she moved her legs, separating them just enough to shift her hips against his. As soon as he hissed, she laughed. "You can't have your present until after I have mine."

He narrowed his eyes. "I can wait." Without another word, he rolled off her and pulled the blankets up to his chin.

Irritated, she glared at his back. "And you'd better keep your hands where I can see them."

_December 25__th  
__1:00 AM_

"El?"

"Fuck off."

She laughed, she couldn't help it. "Please?"

"I said fuck off."

She leaned over him, not at all deterred by his words since his voice was revealing a smile. "Please?"

"No. The more you ask, the longer I'm going to make you wait."

"Tease."

He snickered at her. "It takes one to know one."

_December 25__th  
__1:08 AM_

"El?"

He sat up. "That's it. I'm going downstairs."

Deflated, her shoulders fell. "You're really not going to let me open it?"

"At this point, I'm ready to take it back and not tell you what it was." His arms folded over his chest as he challenged her.

"You'd do that? You'd really not tell me what it was?"

"You'll never find out what was in that box."

"Never?" She couldn't believe he'd be so hard on her.

"Never, ever."

"But it's the first real Christmas present I've ever gotten." She was trying to be whiny and annoying, but she realized her words broke him.

He reached out and traced his fingers over her cheek. "You can open it if you want to."

"Really?" She was ready to jump up and down.

He nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

She looked at the box, intensely curious as to what it housed. And there was another present downstairs with her name on it from her brother. But Simon didn't know her as well as Elliot did and as much as his gift would mean, it wouldn't be the same. She shook her head. "I want to wait."

He groaned as he fell back against the pillow. "Are you trying to drive me insane?" He smiled at her. "I mean, more insane than you've already driven me?"

She snuggled into his chest, savoring the feeling of his arms folding around her, keeping her safe and close. "I'm sorry."

She felt him nod. "I know."

"Good night, El."

"Merry Christmas, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:32 AM_

"El?" She shook him until both of his eyes opened.

"Huh?" He looked around the dark room. "Is Kyle up?"

"No."

"What is it?" His arms readjusted around her and his eyes closed again.

"I changed my mind. I can't wait anymore."

His eyes opened and immediately narrowed into thin slits. "Are you kidding me? You woke me up to tell me that?"

Her own eyes widened, not having expected him to be angry. "I'm sorry." She recoiled back into herself, pulling away the parts of her body that had sought out warmth against his. "I didn't mean-"

His hand closed around hers. "I'm not mad. I just meant that you could have opened it."

"Don't you want to see?"

He chuckled. "I already know what it is."

She shook her head, confused for a moment that he had missed her point until she realized he was only kidding. "So can I open it?"

He nodded, standing up to move the box onto the bed. "Knock yourself out."

Utter stillness fell over the room. Elliot stood by the foot of the bed. Olivia was kneeling; she had to since the box was so big. She took a deep breath and let herself enjoy it.

She grinned at Elliot. "Give me a hint?"

His mouth fell open as he looked at her. "A hint? You want a hint?" Shaking his head, he sat down behind her on the bed. "Here's your hint. Open the box."

She rolled her eyes and reached for the bow, pulling at the ribbon slowly. As much as she wanted to tear it open, she wanted to drag out the process even more. She took her time taking the ribbon and bow completely off the package first. Elliot's laugh drew her attention and she stopped to look at him.

"What?" Even showing up at Simon's and saying he loved her and bringing her a gift didn't make it ok for him to laugh at her. In fact, she was fairly sure it made it worse.

"I thought you couldn't wait anymore. Move any slower and you won't be moving at all." He shook his head, but he was smiling.

"Don't laugh at me." When she was sure he'd be quiet, she turned back to the box.

With the ribbon off, she started on one of the sides, picking carefully at the tape that held the folded paper together.

"Oh, for the love of god!" Elliot leaned against her back, reaching around her and laying his hands on hers. Then he moved their hands together, guiding her to tear one of the seams completely open.

"Hey!" She smacked at him. She didn't actually want him to move because she was reveling in the feeling of his chest solid against her back, his arms around her, his hands on hers, his presence, his scent, surrounding her.

"Hurry up!" He withdrew his hands, settling them around her waist instead.

She craned her neck to look at him. "It's my present. Let me do it."

"You sound like a two-year-old. 'I can do it myself!'" His laughter rumbled through his chest, reverberating into hers.

She jabbed her elbow back at him, but quickly settled her weight back into him so he would know she didn't want him to move. "I'd throw you out for making fun of me, but you're so mean you'd probably take my gift with you."

His face turned into her neck and he kissed her. "I'd never take it away from you. I've never seen you so happy and you haven't even opened the damn thing."

"You said you would earlier. You said you'd take it away and never tell me what was in it."

"I think I was trying to sleep at the time." He moved his arm to tuck her hair back, pressing his cheek to hers. "Besides, you were being rather annoying."

"And you were being mean."

She was about to return to opening the box, but Elliot's face moved, nuzzling her neck. "Can I make it up to you?"

She laughed out loud, hoping it hadn't been so loud as to wake anyone. "Now who's being the tease?"

He sat back with a sigh. "Ok, ok. Open the box so we can go back to sleep."

_December 25__th  
__3:36 AM_

"Liv?"

She didn't answer him. She didn't even hear him.

"Olivia?"

She didn't feel anything when he loosened his hold on her. He leaned to the side to see her face since he couldn't get a response from her. Her face was wet with tears that poured out of her eyes with no sign of stopping.

His hand moved to her back, rubbing slowly in an attempt to sooth her. "Breathe, Liv."

The hand covering her mouth, that had moved up in pure shock, dropped back to her side. Her lungs demanded air and she finally drew in a breath, unaware that she'd even stopped breathing. She turned to him and tried to blink the tears out of her eyes so that she could see him. She didn't even recognize her own voice when she spoke.

"This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever given me."

He wasn't quite sure what to make of her tears. He'd thought maybe he'd crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed, dug up a memory that was better left buried. "I thought thirty years was long enough to wait."

An involuntary laugh forced its way out of her mouth. "You think I'm thirty-four? That's sweet. Sad, but sweet." She sniffled, finally able to see past the drying tears. "Thank you."

"I saw it and I couldn't not get it for you." He shrugged. "I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, but –" He shrugged again. "Those are good tears, right?"

She nodded, twisting around to hug him. "I mean it. Thank you."

"It's just a stuffed animal."

Reaching back, she pulled the enormous stuffed hippo into the hug with her. "Right, and we're just friends."

He hugged her, and the hippo, back. "Yeah, but we're working on that."

_December 25__th  
__3:39 AM_

Cuddled back in bed with Elliot and her hippo, Olivia smiled. "I think you've single-handedly rekindled my hope in the world."

His arms squeezed her tighter. "Let's not go overboard."

"And I believe in Santa now too."

"Why? Because I got you a hippo?"

She turned and pressed her ear against his chest so she could hear his heart beat. "Because I have everything I want tonight. I have a brother and a sister-in-law and a nephew." She moved her hand over his chest, loving that she could feel the heat of his body. "Because I have you and you brought me a hippo."

"Just so you know, I don't still want a train set."

She giggled. "Good."

"Why is that good?"

"Because I don't have any money to buy you one." She hadn't actually thought of it before, but she was tempted. And there was no telling what she would do when she recovered financially from having splurged on Kyle.

"Damn."

"Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:44 AM_

"I do still need a car and a phone and a place to live." His voice was tense when it cut through the silence, as though recalling the bad events threatened to ruin the mood.

"Maybe you should talk to Santa about that." They'd only been together for a few hours; she didn't think it was appropriate to suggest a resolution to the apartment issue. "Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:47 AM_

"Maybe I'll just move in with you. Then I won't need a car or a phone or an apartment."

She grinned into his chest. "My place is pretty small, especially since I'm going to have a hippo in there now."

Laughing, he kissed the top of her head. "The hippo can take the couch."

"Maybe we should look for a two bedroom place." She waited for the response she knew she'd get.

"Why?" His voice sounded nearly panicked.

Encouraged by his words and happier than she'd ever been, she said something she'd never imagined that she would ever say. "Because of the baby, stupid."

"Oh, right."

"Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:49 AM_

"As great as this Christmas has been, I think-"

She pulled back. "It's three in the morning, El, Christmas isn't exactly over."

He rolled his eyes and pulled her against him again. "As great as this Christmas has been so far-"

"Thank you."

He laughed. "Will you let me get the damn sentence out?" When she nodded, he continued. "Like I was saying, as great as this Christmas has been so far, I think next year's going to be even better."

"Why is that?" Honestly, Olivia couldn't think of a single way to improve on her holiday. It was the kind dreams were made of. It had been perfect.

"Because of the baby, stupid."

She'd never been so happy to have her words thrown back in her face.

She'd never been so happy. Period.

"Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:54 AM_

"Liv?"

"I'm trying to sleep here."

"Sorry."

"S'ok. Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:55 AM_

"El?"

"I thought you were trying to sleep."

"I think Kyle's awake."

"Nah, kids are much, much louder when they wake up on Christmas morning."

_December 25__th  
__3:56 AM_

"El, did you hear that?"

"No."

"It sounds like someone's on the stairs."

"It's probably just Kyle peeking, Liv."

"I thought kids made a lot more noise when they woke up on Christmas morning."

Elliot groaned. "So I was wrong."

"You don't happen to have a tape recorder handy, do you?"

"Go to sleep."

"Good night, El."

"Night, Liv."

_December 25__th  
__3:57 AM_

"Are you sure that's Kyle?"

"Do you want me to go out there and check?"

Tightening her grip, she shook her head. "No. What if it's a murderer? I don't want you anywhere near him."

He laughed. "Night, Liv."

"Good night, El, even if we are about to be murdered."

_December 25__th  
__3:58 AM_

"Santa came! Santa came! Santa came! Santa came!"

Kyle pounded up the stairs and threw open the door. "Get up, everybody, Santa came!"

Olivia blinked sleepily at Elliot. "Apparently, you were right after all."

"Wait, can I get that on tape?"

She smacked him and moved to sit up. "I guess it's better than being murdered."

Elliot nodded. "This is the fun part."

With a wide grin, he took her hand and together they followed Kyle to the living room to find out what else Christmas had in store for them.


End file.
